Customer Reviews

Battleships

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This book covers the history of the American battleship fleet from the commissioning of the prototype "coastal defense battleships" Texas and Maine in 1895 to the final retirement of the Iowa class in the early 1990s. Despite the title, the book concentrates completely on the American ships. But, it is a VERY enjoyable book nonetheless. As one might expect, the book covers all the major events of the period, including the destruction of the Maine, the Battle of Santiago, the cruise of the Great White Fleet, the fleet actions in World Wars One and Two, Korea, Vietnam, and Desert Storm. The book is also full of personal stories and anecdotes from officers and sailors aboard these great ships, detailing such incidents as coaling aboard the old pre-dreadnoughts, a female stowaway aboard the USS Arizona, and the old prank of sending a lighted piece of paper floating down the trench on the ship's head. The book provides an excellent assortment of pictures. I especially enjoyed the up-close shots of the Spanish-American War-era ships, as well as the shots of the cage masts and bridge areas aboard the Florida and Wyoming class ships. Of course, a lot of the book is devoted to coverage of the Iowa class, both due to their long service and the fact that the author served aboard the USS New Jersey. I got this book as a Christmas present, and have already read through it twice. Plus, I find myself constantly pulling the book off the shelf, just to open it up and let my eyes rest on all the great pictures of these majestic ships. If you are a battleship enthusiast, or just generally a naval buff, I guarantee you will enjoy this book.

Filled with breathtaking photographs in color and black-and-white, Battleships is both a history and a tribute to naval craft designed specifically for the art of war. Chapters span centuries of history up through the modern day; a wealth of information fills every chapter. Erudite, powerful, and majestic, Battleships is a captivating and astounding giftbook for anyone with an interest in these signatures of naval power and a welcome addition to community library reference collections.

I originally got this expecting information on all battleships, not just the U.S. examples. However, despite the fact that comparisons cannot be drawn with their rivals overseas in this book does not undermine its effectiveness altogether. It has quite a lot of photos, in varying times in the boats' careers, from construction to their disposal. This is a book very helpful for modelers, and for battleship enthusiasts.